The pharmaceutical industry is a
competitive business. Yet, competition
was put aside leading up
to and after Hurricane Katrina ravaged
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
Pharmacy retailers and drug manufacturers
joined forces to help those in
need. Relief efforts included monetary
contributions, necessary medications,
and supplies to help survivors get
through one of the worst natural disasters
in American history.

The relief efforts have been no easy
task. Tens of thousand of hurricane survivors
had to be evacuated to shelters
without basic necessities. The pharmacy
industry saw a need and continues
to do everything possible to ensure
that individuals are getting their medications.
Members of the National
Association of Chain Drug Stores took
swift action.

Calling it a "time of immense participation
with a lot of pharmacies working
together," Registered Pharmacist
Bob DuFour, director of Pharmacy,
Professional Services, and Government
Relations at Wal-Mart, has been commended
for his leadership. With the
eye of the storm heading straight for
New Orleans, La, Wal-Mart pharmacists,
as well as other retail pharmacists,
worked around the clock filling prescriptions
for residents evacuating the
city. It was only the beginning of the
efforts.

What came next was stepping up the
magnitude of help for individuals who
did not have enough medication and
for hospitals running short of supplies.
Many of the retail pharmacies along
the Gulf Coast were under water or
completely destroyed. DuFour knew
that Wal-Mart alone could not handle
the demands from hospitals, local and
state organizations, state and local Red
Cross, and other organizations. He
organized a network of retailers (eg,
CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens) to develop
organized ways to handle responsibilities
and get medications to individuals
across the country.

DuFour was able to get the Texas,
Louisiana, and Mississippi pharmacy
state boards to allow pharmacists to
dispense medications deemed necessary
without a physician's orders. "We
set up conference calls with retailers to
coordinate efforts for all shelters. The
effort included Wal-Mart and other
retailers adopting a shelter and helping
to determine [people's] medication
needs and making sure they got their
medicine," he said. Part of the effort
involved mobile pharmacies.

Amanda Jenkins, PharmD, who
works at the Wal-Mart in Monroe, La,
coordinated with Dr. Lamar Pritchard,
dean of the University of Louisiana at
Monroe College of Pharmacy, and
pharmacy students. The group went to
the Monroe Civic Center to assess the
needs of evacuees. The school called
the prescriptions in to Dr. Jenkins,
according to DuFour.

"The pharmacist response was unbelievable,"
DuFour said. "They are the
real heroes, staying late at the pharmacy
to make sure people had their medicines.
We coordinated the efforts and
came up with the ideas. They [the
pharmacists] are the ones who executed
it," he said.

Rite Aid, like other retailers, is opening
more stores every day in the affected
areas. As of press time, 40 Rite Aid
volunteers had gone to those areas to
help reopen Rite Aid stores and fill prescriptions.
The retailer also set up 3
temporary mobile pharmacies to fill
the need for prescription and pharmacy
services. The sites included Mobile,
Ala; D'Iberville, Miss; and Waveland,
Miss. Rite Aid has been sending product
donations at the request of the Red
Cross. "We are trying to work with
every request that comes in," said Jody
Cook, Rite Aid spokeswoman.

CVs' 2 satellite pharmacy operations
at the Astrodome in Houston, Tex,
filled 20,000 prescriptions for 7000
individuals taking refuge. Of the prescriptions
needed, 90% were filled
within the first 72 hours of the operation.
The retailer recently completed
its mobile pharmacy operations at the
Houston Astrodome because all of the
evacuees were moved to other facilities.
The retailer also set up 2 other
mobile pharmacies in the state: at the
Convention Center in Austin and at
Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio.

"All of our industry peers, along
with state and local agencies, are cooperating
with one another to make sure
medicines are getting to patients who
need them and not duplicating services.
We are deeply concerned for our
customers and employees, and we will
keep on doing everything we can to
assist in the recovery effort," said Mike
DeAngelis, CVS spokesman.

Walgreens has filled >300,000 prescriptions
for hurricane evacuees in all
45 states where the retailer operates.
Because many evacuees are being relocated
to other parts of states,
Walgreens pharmacies have been filling
2 and 3 times their regular volume
of prescriptions.

To meet the increased demand, the
retailer has been using technology to fill
prescriptions faster. The company
received special permission from pharmacy
state boards in affected areasincluding Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Alabamato use the new function of its
InterCom Plus computer system on an
emergency basis. The advanced system
had been tested only in some Florida
markets beginning in early 2005. The
company had introduced the computer
pharmacy system in 1997.

"After the hurricane hit, we saw how
busy our stores in the Gulf Coast were,
and we saw an opportunity," said
Michael Polzin, spokesman for
Walgreens.

Here is how the system works. If a
particular pharmacy is busy, a technician
scans a handwritten prescription
and then electronically sends it to a
less busy Walgreens pharmacy. The
information is entered into the
patient's electronic record, and a pharmacist
checks to make sure that the
patient will not have any adverse reaction
to any medication. The system
then sends the prescription back to the
original store, where it is filled.

"This system was not designed for
the aftermath of a hurricane. However,
we have gotten a lot of feedback from
our pharmacists about how it helped.
We have no timetable on how long we
will use it on an emergency basis. We
do plan to launch the new function in
all our stores but do not know when."
Polzin added.

Retailers and hospitals would not
have been able to accomplish everything
they have done without the help
of various drug manufacturers. Aside
from monetary contributions, the
companies provided free medications
to hurricane survivors and replaced
medications donated to shelters and
health care facilities.

Novo Nordisk immediately responded
with diabetes care. In addition to its
$1 million aid donation, the company
is providing insulin products and
advanced delivery devices to help relief
efforts. The health care company has
designated 50% of the monetary donation
to provide immediate care for
patients with diabetes. The remainder
of the funds will be donated to the Red
Cross toward its general relief efforts.

Novo Nordisk will provide its
insulin products and delivery devices,
including prefilled insulin pens that
can be used for a short time without
refrigeration. Because insulin should
be stored in a cold place before being
administered to patients, the company
has a system in place to provide clinics
and shelters with refrigerators and generators.

On September 1, 2005, Eli Lilly and
Co loaded its corporate jet with 1600
lb of products, from first aid supplies to
medications, for Hancock Medical
Center in Bay Saint Louis, Miss, said
company spokesman Edward Sagebiel.
The company is shipping products to
40 centers in 10 different states. Lilly
also is working with retailers to dispense
free medications to individuals
in need. "We are looking at its effect on
a weekly basis to determine how long
it will continue," he said.

He said that immediately following
the storm "there was an acute need for
insulin products." The company has
donated $1 million in insulin for those
in need in the affected areas. All product
donations are being coordinated
through Heart to Heart and the Red
Cross.

Another area that requires attention
is the mental health of survivors.
"What we are seeing now is a need for
mental health treatment and more
maintenance medications for patients
taking mental health medicines." As a
result, the company has donated mental
health treatment medications to
various hospitals, health care facilities,
and clinics in the affected areas.

"What has been unique from a
broader corporate standpoint is how
corporations are working together,"
observed Sagebiel. "[Lilly] feels privileged
to have contributed."

AstraZeneca also is putting some of
its efforts into the mental health area.
The company is supporting the
National Council for Community
Behavioral Healthcare (NCCBH)
Project Helping Hands. The project is
an emergency psychiatric assistance
program to aid community mental
health centers in states across the
country that are reaching out to displaced
and relocated individuals with
serious mental illness. NCCBH has
centers in Alabama, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Utah,
Arizona, and Texas.

"As a company, we are committed to
mental health," said Carla Burigatto,
director of media relations for the company.
"Our partnership with NCCBH is
a natural fit for us because mental
health support and treatment are a
core piece of our company focus.
AstraZeneca is committed, just like the
broader health community, to help
people affected by Hurricane Katrina.
We are watching the situation unfold
each day."

The company also announced that
it will provide up to $5 million in free
medication to Hurricane Katrina survivors.

On an emergency supply, Pfizer made
its medications available to individuals
who lost access to their Pfizer medications.
The emergency basis ended on
September 30, 2005. The company also
joined efforts with hospitals and medical
institutions in Texas and Louisiana
to make sure that no one goes without
medication. In conjunction with donating
medicines, the company will
replenish Pfizer products for free.

"We at Pfizer are committed to helping
improve people's lives. Pfizer has a
long tradition of helping those in
need. When disaster strikes, we have
been there early and responding," said
Darla Taylor, company spokeswoman.

"When you look at the magnitude
of what happened and the response, it
is a tremendous coordination of effort
by relief organizations to help take care
of people's immediate needs," added
Taylor.